From faster performance, to more advanced graphics, and everything in-between, the current crop of Android's finest handsets will soon face their challengers from the next edition of flagships with Snapdragon 845 chipsets. First in line are, needless to say, the processor's foundry masters from Samsung, with their Galaxy S9, but LG, Sony, Xiaomi and others, will certainly be lining up soon thereafter.

So, what are the advantages that Snapdragon 845 alone will sport that could make you switch from your trusted Galaxy S8, LG V30, Xiaomi Mi 6, or even the OnePlus 5T, all of which have Snapdragon 835 chippery inside? Well, let Qualcomm's reference platform with Snapdragon 845 inside answer that for you. It's been put through the benchmark paces, and, while power efficiency and thermal management can't be automatically applied to a commercial device with the chipset, the GPU and other scores can, and they tell a pretty tale when it comes to performance improvements.

Qualcomm Spectra 280, support for 16MP image sensor operating up to 60 frames per second

Qualcomm Spectra 180

Security

Secure Processing Unit (SPU) isolated subsystem

Qualcomm Processor Security

Misc.

Quick Charge 4+

Dual SIM dual VoLTE support

Multi-frame Noise Reduction (MFNR)

Slow Motion video capture (720p@480fps)

Quick Charge 4

Bear in mind that there has been no production node improvement, and both chips are done at 10nm, albeit 845 is cast with the second generation of the process that is always the more refined, and offers higher performance with a similar or lower power draw. Qualcomm claims that "our new Spectra camera and Adreno graphics architectures boost power efficiency by up to 30 percent compared to our previous generations," so significant battery savings compared may come when rendering websites, or performing graphics-intensive tasks and video capture with Snapdragon 845 devices compared to 835 gear.

As you can see from the Snapdragon 845 development platform benchmarks below, the new processor indeed brings huge 20-40% improvement in graphics intensive tasks, and at the same time drawing less power than the GPU in 835. Most graphical benchmarking scores below put the Adreno 630 GPU ahead of the tally from the A11 chipset in the iPhone X, for instance. When it comes to CPU performance, and overall power draw, however, there seem to be only slight improvements over 835, yet we will have to wait and test a retail Snapdragon 845 phone for the full picture.

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Posts: 104; Member since: Oct 06, 2016

posted on Feb 12, 2018, 6:14 AM 1

Posts: 613; Member since: May 16, 2013

“On par with iphone” nowhere does this article provides evidence that it performs better than the Iphone. “Less power draw” i wonder of android phones will ever use smaller batteries?
Have some journalistic integrity and stop with these clickbait headline please.
Anyways props to Qualcomm for finally catching up with 2017 iphone chip

posted on Feb 13, 2018, 5:12 AM 0

Posts: 21; Member since: Mar 15, 2013

posted on Feb 12, 2018, 7:41 AM 0

Posts: 204; Member since: Mar 13, 2015

How many apps out there can't be run at max graphics settings with the SD 835? Or the A11? Sometimes when I read these kinds of articles, it would be nice to have a practical real world reference. Or maybe something that says you can run X app X more minutes at max settings with the SD 845 vs 835. I realize the SD 845 isn't out yet, so it's a lot of conjecture at this point, but it's still irritating.

posted on Feb 12, 2018, 8:28 AM 0

Posts: 1229; Member since: Jul 16, 2016

Great but there is zero demand for faster mobile SoC's, no games or applications take advantage of it.
Raw performance became somewhat irrelevant after SN820, hardware will of course always get faster but it's new features and efficiency that's more interesting right now.
Things may change moving forward but games have been pretty weak visually for a few years now on mobile, little to no progress has been made.

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